Mari and Dave

Have a Happy 2010.                                                                                                                                                                             Picture taken from the top of Holiday Valley in Ellicottville. 

Mirabel has gone home now.  We miss her.  Especially when we are out hiking as she was a real pleasure to hike with. Never went to far away and greeted every squirrel and deer with extreme speed.  Here she is on a trail in the Dundas Valley looking out over the escarpment.

On Wednesday we were down in Niagara on the Lake for an overnight at Harbour House.  Pulling into town it was very noticeable that the tourists were gone.  We rode down to Niagara Falls before dinner and had the entire bike path to ourselves.  Our ride was followed by a delicious dinner at Zee’s and once again, we were the only patrons in the restaurant.  Great time to go to avoid the crowds and take advantage of some good deals.  We also realized how lucky we were with the weather.  This time last year we would have been tromping through the snow.

After a couple of rebooks due to colds and flu, Dave & I finally made it out to visit our newest nieces, Emily & Isobella.  Do you believe that they are almost a year old!  We had a wonderful visit with the girls and Jen & Mark.  Thanks.  

Her name is Mirabel, but we have been affectionately calling her “Minnie the Moocher” and “Fanny the Farter”.  Here is a very tired Mirabel.  Our mission is accomplished, for today at least.

Katherine from Buffalo has been staying with us for a couple days. She was off work for American Thanksgiving and decided to take a couple days to visit Toronto. On her last night here, she treated us to dinner: Chicken Cacciatore and Hot Chocolate Cake. There was alot of attention given to the Chocolate Cake as evident by the fact that there were no pictures taken of the Cacciatore and at least fifty of the Chocolate Cake!  Oh, the marshmallows were homemade!

And then today, Sunday morning we picked up Mirabel. We get to look after Mirabel while her owners are RV’ing around New Zealand. Following a long walk at Christie’s Conservation area she is now fast asleep beside me on the couch.

Richard’s First CX Race!, originally uploaded by mevans1328.

More pictures from the cyclocross race at Garrett’s Farm today.

What a beautiful day and what a great race setting.  We were in Milton on a working horse farm for a Cyclocross race.  The poor horses got a little spooked by the ringing of the cow bells so we were asked to avoid ringing them in the fields close to the front of the farm.  Being at a ‘cross race and not ringing a cow bell feels very strange.  Clapping your hands just doesn’t have the same affect as clanging a bell as hard and loud as you can.

Oh, and Dave came in Third!!  Great day.  Think I got a bit of a sunburn on my face.  (In November?)

View of the farm from one of the “back” fields

Jennie J on the run-up following a natural barrier - a tree.

Dave after his 3rd place finish.

Taking Humphrey to True North Cycles to get a makeover.  When he returns he will have disc brakes and a new paint job.  What colour, you ask?  I am thinking of staying with the orange as long as I can find a match in powder coat.

Better day weather wise.  Drier course.  Unfortunately Dave had a mechanical and had to pull out of race early.  So not many pictures from today’s race but I did get a good one of the new True North Cycles winter jackets.